Genres in Children's Literature, La Trobe University, Lecture 7: Caricatures, Cartoons, and Comics

Genres in Children's Literature is a course taught by David Beagley at Australia's La Trobe University. Lectures from the Spring 2012 semester are available for download on iTunes U. As I listen to the lectures, I am recording my reflections and responses here on my blog. This post focuses on Lecture 7: Caricatures, Cartoons, and Comics.

In Lecture 7 of Genres in Children’s Literature, David Beagley introduces the graphic format through a presentation about caricatures, comics, and cartoons. Even though I always read the funnies in the Sunday paper as a kid, when I got to library school I remember being very puzzled by the graphic novel genre, and skeptical about the educational value of reading books written in the format of a comic book. It is only within the last few years that I have come around a little bit on this point, and sometimes I still find it difficult to decide where graphic novels stand in relation to traditional text-only novels.

This lecture has helped me strengthen my understanding a little bit by laying out for me the way comics actually work. Though I think I knew a lot of the things Beagley mentions, I still found myself fascinated by the way the human mind interacts with the graphic format. I have always said that I enjoy reading graphic novels because I can actually feel my brain working differently, but it was enormously helpful to actually be told that, for example, the reader fills in spaces between static images with the actions that we expect to come between those moments. This ties directly into the idea that graphic novels can help readers - especially reluctant ones - understand the concept of story structure, and that reading the symbols in the illustrations is actually quite similar to reading words. It’s a lot more helpful to be able to explain that to a skeptical parent, than for me to just stand there telling them, “No, really, these are books, too.”

I also loved thinking about the different lines and strokes used to visually represent non-visual phenomena, such as smell. I was never expressly taught that squiggly lines rising from an object indicates that the object gives off an odor, but of course, I know how to read this in a comic strip or graphic novel. This lecture has made me want to pay closer attention to those little details and evaluate how well they contribute to a story as a whole.

This lecture also traced the history of serial comics from the 1740s to the present, which gives a great background for understanding how we have come to have the graphic novels we have today. I was especially interested in the development of the voice bubble, which is such an integral part of the way comics are written today. It never occurred to me to imagine a time without it! (I was somewhat puzzled during this portion of the lecture as to why David Beagley thinks Peanuts is still going, when the last new strip ran over 12 years ago, but perhaps he was just referring to the fact that old strips still appear in the newspaper.)

Beagley’s discussion of graphic novels will continue in Lecture 8, Graphic Novels, Anime, and Manga - I’m somewhat wary of those last two, so I’m curious to see what I might learn!

Want to listen along? Click here. Read about David Beagley here. Read my previous lecture responses here.

Genres in Children's Literature, La Trobe University, Lecture 5: Postmodern Picture Books and Lecture 6: Anthony Browne

Genres in Children's Literature is a course taught by David Beagley at Australia's La Trobe University. Lectures from the Spring 2012 semester are available for download on iTunes U. As I listen to the lectures, I am recording my reflections and responses here on my blog. This post focuses on Lecture 5: Postmodern Picture Books and Lecture 6: Postmodern Picture Books: Anthony Browne.

The first lecture on postmodernism focused mainly on the historical movements and events which led up to the postmodernist movement beginning in the 1960s. Beagley talked about the fact that in postmodernist works, all absolutes are challenged and many different readings can be valid. He said that postmodern books can be ironic, with layers of meaning, and that often they turn well known stories on their heads, making them into something new. Postmodernism, this lecture tells us, is marked by three things:  subversion, when the stable elements of a story are cut away; deconstruction, where what makes up a story is more important than the outcome of the story itself; and meta-fiction, where a book has a self-conscious awareness that it is a book. Beagley mentioned several times that postmodernist books are playful and filled with inside jokes.

In the second postmodernist lecture, Beagley dug deeper into these concepts using the work of well-known picture book author Anthony Browne. In particular, he focused on two of Browne's picture books, a traditional, linear story from 1976 called A Walk in the Park, and a postmodernist retelling of the same story entitled Voices in the Park. Unfortunately, I think all this lecture did was explain why I tend to dislike stories that don't follow a traditional path. Beagley pointed out that postmodern picture books deliberately keep the reader aware that he or she is reading a work of fiction. The reader is never able to just lose himself/herself in the world of the book. I tend to judge books based on how well I am able to immerse myself in them, and how easy it is for me to let go of myself and live vicariously through the characters. I don't know if I've ever really known what to do with books where things don't come to one, clear, emotionally satisfying ending.

While I don't think I'll ever be a fan of postmodernism, these two lectures gave me some idea of how to approach books of this type. I am a bit puzzled as to how I might review a book that is so subjective and so dependent on each individual reader's experience reading it, but it also seems doubtful that I will begin reviewing them any time soon.I think it's safe to say I'm glad to be done with picture books and moving onto the next segment of the course, about graphic novels.


Want to listen along? Click here. Read about David Beagley here. Read my previous lecture responses here.

Genres in Children's Literature, La Trobe University, Lecture 4: Author and Illustrator Devices

 Genres in Children's Literature is a course taught by David Beagley at Australia's La Trobe University. Lectures from the Spring 2012 semester are available for download on iTunes U. As I listen to the lectures, I am recording my reflections and responses here on my blog. This post focuses on Lecture 4: Author and Illustrator Devices.

Beagley's remarks in this lecture echoed some of the things he's already said, but then applied them all to an Australian picture book called Norton's Hut. The book seems to be out of print and unavailable these days, and it's not familiar to me at all, but Beagley's analysis of it seems like a pretty good blueprint for analyzing and reviewing books with illustrations.

Here's a list of the details Beagley discussed as he went through Norton's Hut:

• The visual effects of text (conversation bubbles, capital letters, etc.)
• Endpapers 
• Symbolism of setting 
• Framing of the illustrations/story
• Figurative language (alliteration/metaphor/personifcation/simile)
• Characters' expressions 
• Lighting and contrast 
• Intertextuality
• Use of cinematic technique in illustrations

I think it would be silly to assume these are the only things to look for in a picture book, but I think this list is a great starting point. If a reader is looking closely enough to notice these elements, there can be no doubt that he or she will start to notice many more. I find it difficult sometimes to think of books as constructions, with deliberate stylistic choices. It's like looking at the man behind the curtain; Oz loses its magic once you see how he works. But I also think that, in great books, seeing how they work is actually another part of the magic. Seeing how authors put together these great reading experiences can be a real treat.

Want to listen along? Click here. Read about David Beagley here. Read my previous lecture responses here.

Genres in Children's Literature, LaTrobe University, Lecture 3: Picture Books for Older Readers

Genres in Children's Literature is a course taught by David Beagley at Australia's La Trobe University. Lectures from the Spring 2012 semester are available for download on iTunes U. As I listen to the lectures, I am recording my reflections and responses here on my blog. This post focuses on Lecture 3: Picture Books for Older Readers.

This lecture was of special interest to me because it talked about the developmental differences between small kids and teenagers, and how this has translated over the years in the world of children’s literature. The questions I am asked most often at the reference desk all revolve around these developmental differences. “Is my child old enough for...?” “Is this appropriate for a child reading at this grade level?” “Don’t you think a fifth grader should outgrow reading...” Often what I struggle with is this idea many parents have that they should always be reaching for more and more mature material, so their child can read above grade level or exceed the expectations of his or her teachers. I hear parents telling their kids every day that this or that book is babyish, or that this or that book has too many pictures to be considered “real.” What Beagley said in this lecture, though, is that there are picture books for older readers that are perfectly sophisticated and not just appropriate for older kids, but also actually inappropriate for the younger ones.

I think what I liked best in this lecture was Beagley’s statement that reading is an intellectual activity where the reader interprets what happens, and that reading is very much about cracking the author or illustrator’s “code” for understanding a given story. I have a tendency to share picture books in just one way, no matter the age of the kids. Hearing Beagley say that books for older kids have different story structures that actually demand more from their readers makes me reconsider how I present books to kids at different levels. Older kids might engage more with certain books if I give them the opportunity to deconstruct what the author has created and actually understand how it works. In general, I also look forward to writing some more picture book reviews  where I really consider not just words and pictures, but also color, layout, size, and all the other choices authors make in shaping their stories.

Want to listen along? Click here. Read about David Beagley here. Read my previous lecture responses here.

Genres in Children's Literature, LaTrobe University, Lecture 1: Introduction Lecture and Lecture 2: Traditional/Modernist Picture Books

Genres in Children's Literature is a course taught by David Beagley at Australia's La Trobe University. Lectures from the Spring 2012 semester are available for download on iTunes U. As I listen to the lectures, I am recording my reflections and responses here on my blog. This post focuses on Lecture 1: Introduction Lecture and Lecture 2: Traditional/Modernist Picture Books.
 
In the first lecture, David Beagley, the instructor, laid the groundwork for the entire course by discussing the differences between adult literature and children’s literature, and emphasizing the importance of respecting books for children as literature worth studying critically. From this lecture, I took away a lot of food for thought.

The idea that struck me the most was Beagley’s assertion that the best children’s books give the child respect as a reader by accepting that the child can feel, and that his or her feelings are valid. He pointed out that great children’s books don’t tell the reader what to feel, but rather present the story and allow the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. As a librarian, I spend a lot of time in the stacks with parents, trying to find the books they want their kids to read, because the parents have an agenda. They want their kids’ books to be educational and edifying and to focus on only those feelings and concepts they themselves are comfortable with. As a reviewer on this blog, I have a tendency to favor those parental concerns, often pointing out bad language or grammar, or sexual content to caution sensitive parents who might object to that type of reading material. I also consider kid appeal a lot of the time, focusing on whether I think kids will enjoy a book or not. But I have never truly considered whether a book actually respects its reader. This is something I’ll have in mind when I’m reading from now on.

The second lecture went on to describe picture books, the first format the course covers. I’d heard some of it before in library school, especially when it comes to the role of illustrations in picture books, but Beagley mentioned other concepts I’d never really considered. I especially liked his comment that children will read books from their own perspectives, and that two readers may not take away the same things from the same book. It sounds pretty logical that this would be true, but I think it’s easy for people who read books critically to get caught up in the notion of a “right” or “wrong” reading. I think adults are even more likely to get caught up in that when we’re thinking about children’s books, because we, like the parents I mentioned, have an agenda in mind for kids’ reading. We want them to get the “right” things out of it. But Beagley pointed out that the reader must contribute something to the experience of a picture book, and I like thinking about the many different ways kids might interpret the various books I read to them in story time. It makes me want to start asking them more questions so they engage more with the story and rely less on my guidance.

Want to listen along? Click here. Read about David Beagley here. Read my previous lecture responses here.